Over the past four years, through trial and error, more than 50 former and current Souderton Area High School students have had a hand in creating a cooling mechanism to make hospital stays more comfortable for people in developing countries. A group of eight young people will travel with their mentor, Ken Hamilton, a Souderton High science teacher, to Florida on Monday to see if their efforts have paid off. "The students have created a low-cost method which uses trapped hot air to help cool small medical buildings, or huts, for hospital patients and their families in Haiti and Tanzania, Africa," said Hamilton.

Nigerian authorities have reported that militants took more than 270 school girls last month from their boarding school. The truth of the matter is these are Islamic militants abducting and murdering Nigerian Christians. The Islamic groups have been attacking Christians and burning churches all over Nigeria for several years. When are America and the churches of America going to speak up? Last Sunday again we were asked to pray for the Islamic peoples during church. When are we going to pray for Christians in Africa?

The Lehigh Valley Zoo in North Whitehall has been adding African wildlife to its collection to increase species diversity there. The Wanyama Africa exhibit highlights well-known species while presenting an ecological message. Field conservation and education are parts of the Africa program.

Over the past four years, through trial and error, more than 50 former and current Souderton Area High School students have had a hand in creating a cooling mechanism to make hospital stays more comfortable for people in developing countries. A group of eight young people will travel with their mentor, Ken Hamilton, a Souderton High science teacher, to Florida on Monday to see if their efforts have paid off. "The students have created a low-cost method which uses trapped hot air to help cool small medical buildings, or huts, for hospital patients and their families in Haiti and Tanzania, Africa," said Hamilton.

To the Editor: The Rev. Jerry Falwell has begun a campaign to oppose sanctions against South Africa, indeed urging Americans to purchase South Africa gold coins and investments. Such a course of action is shameful forChristians, and self- defeating for American policy. Deliberate investment in South Africa is shameful because it supports an oppressive, unresponsive regime. While we may have no direct influence on odious South African policy, we do have a moral choice as to whether we will personally support that nation's racism and injustice, participating in it through direct economic support.

Barack Obama should put his money where his ancestors lived. Instead of bragging on how much more money he raised than Hillary Clinton, he should send those excess millions to Africa because people there are starving and dying with no health care to protect them. Margaret Feeley Allentown

To the Editor: At their July convention, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, an organization of black workers that some would say have the most to lose from economic sanctions, called for the stepping-up of international sanctions against South Africa. Members of this organization risked jail by this outspoken appeal - it is against the law in South Africa to advocate sanctions. Church leaders of the South African Council of Churches are also urging the international community to respond in this way to the evil of apartheid.

Last December, in an editorial in these columns, South Africa's Deputy Prime Minister Louis Nel was quoted as telling The Washington Post, "We will listen to any friend, but at the end of the day, South Africa will make its own decisions on what it judges to be in the best interests of its people." South Africa's decisions on easing the injustices of apartheid have been painfully few and woefully inadequate. Its decision to declare a state of emergency, Poland-style, removes its last claim even to white democracy.

To the Editor: Although it's in vogue to denounce the Republic of South Africa these days, I feel that the facts must be told. I do not defend apartheid as a proper governmental system. However, the population consists of many races and tribes, all having differing beliefs, cultures, etc. Many do not mix. The facts show a 58 percent literacy rate for blacks, the highest in Africa, with thousands attending universities. President Botha has promised more reforms at his own pace tolerating no outside interference - rightly so. South African blacks pay no income tax, have integrated sports, work, and marriages.

To the Editor: The turmoil in South Africa offers the United States an excellent opportunity to practice self-discipline. We ought to hold our noses and do nothing. Listen to the pundits, professors and politicians telling us what every five-year-old knows, namely, that apartheid is wrong. Then hear these Solomons ponder America's options: Do we hasten apartheid's extinction by sanctions, or do sanctions produce a backlash? If certain measures are prescribed, are they better done by the American government, by institutions such as corporations, or by consumer boycotts?

A local man who recently spent 11 months in Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer will discuss his experience at 6:30 p.m. on April 2 at the Lower Macungie Community Center, 3450 Brookside Road, Lower Macungie. Ron Nelson, who volunteered in Malawi, Africa, will share his experiences living without refrigeration and electricity and using a very unusual cooking fuel. To register for the event, contact the library at 610-966-6864 or visit the library's website .

The final round of the 76th Masters was dominated nearly all day by a South African in quest of his second major title. By the end of the round, he had been joined in the spotlight at Augusta National by a Southern-fried American magician in search of his first. As a result, they had to decide it in a sudden-death playoff, with Floridian Bubba Watson delivering an appropriately brilliant approach shot after a wild drive on the second playoff hole to help carry him past Louis Oosthuizen in a dramatic duel.

A little more than three years after fleeing his war-torn country in the Horn of Africa, a 22-year-old man was gunned down in a downtown Allentown street early Saturday, authorities said. Hagos F. Mezgebo fled Eritrea in the spring of 2008, making the dangerous, five-day journey to a refugee camp in neighboring Ethiopia. The two countries were at war and Mezgebo was being forced to fight in a war that claimed tens of thousands of lives. Mezgebo remained in the refugee camp for 21/2 years until the United Nations High Commission on Refugees could establish him as a persecuted person.

The eighth annual SouthSide Film Festival looks to be the most adventurous installment of the event in years. The entries range from an Iranian short ("The Wind Is Blowing On My Street") and a sci-fi extravaganza from Kenya ("Pumzi") to a documentary about the devastating effects of mountaintop mining ("The Last Mountain") and an explosive indie starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt ("Hesher"). For five days, beginning Tuesday, the south side of Bethlehem will be the place to take a cinematic walk on the wild side.

Two weeks ago, I saw my wife draw from her inner strength to give birth to our son. I witnessed how she spoke to him, urging him to change position. I saw her dance in a powerful trance of fury and tenderness until my son emerged from her depths, surprising us both with a yell that seemed to begin before he saw the light. We celebrated life's wink, grateful to our midwife, Andrea McLaren, and to the whole team of nurses at Bethlehem's St. Luke's Hospital, for their care. Nature took over and everything flowed from beginning to end, but it could have been different.

Two weeks ago, I saw my wife draw from her inner strength to give life birth to our son. I witnessed how she spoke to him, urging him to change position. I saw her dance in a powerful trance of fury and tenderness until my son emerged from her depths, surprising us both with a yell that seemed to begin before he saw the light. We celebrated life's wink, grateful to our midwife, Andrea McLaren, and to the whole team of nurses at Bethlehem's St. Luke's Hospital, for their care. Nature took over and everything flowed from beginning to end, but it could have been different.

People who feed the hungry, care for the homeless and bandage the battered know there is a burnout that comes from dealing with too much hurting. After they respond again and again to calls for help, even the best-motivated Samaritans may eventually be reduced to shrugging. The eyes of the world are on the Balkans, where Serbian attacks are disrupting the delivery of relief supplies to war-devastated refugees, of whom there is said to be 1 million. Meanwhile, in Africa, 53 million people are at risk of starvation, according to United Nations estimates.

I have two sons, and one of my sons has four brothers. A riddle? No, just a family blended by the great adventure of 10 years in Africa, the tragedy of AIDS, and the joy of adoption. Matthew was born in the United States but grew up in Tanzania when we moved there, inseparable from his best friend, Will. When Will's mom lost her battle with AIDS, we adopted him as a young teen and brought him with us when we moved back to Pennsylvania. He now makes us proud as an engineering student at the University of Pittsburgh.